Using sawdust on woodburning stoves

[smiffy]

I have just went through the posts in the last 2 months as I have been away for a while, and noticed a few posts regarding the problem of burning sawdust in a wood burning stove.

Suggestions were made of buying/building expensive gizmos to compress the sawdust in an attempt to make sawdust logs or bricks. Some even tried using a weak pva glue mixture, waited weeks on it drying only for it to fall to bits.

Some mentioned the impracticality of the mess being made as they very carefully shovelled sawdust into the fire hoping to not get a mini explosion in the fire that blew their eyebrows off.

Nah...fret no more...its simple... put it into handy sized bags in your workshop. Tie knots in the tops of the bags if you wish. I just take 15 mins or so wearing a dust mask and fill ordinary plastic shopping bags with enough for my size of fire.

I then just chuck in a whole unopened bag. The plastic melts away immediately, but its safe and clean and there is not enough plastic to damage the fire. Use paper bags if you want. And it fairly throws out the heat.

Hope this helps



Ray.

 

[Lee Brubaker]

60 yrs ago in British Columbia, Canada ,a person could get sawdust free of charge at sawmills for the hauling the stuff away & many people burned sawdust exclusively for heating their homes.All that was required was a simple tapered hopper on the back of the furnace & gravity feed did the rest. Tremendous heat was given off.
The sawdust from woodworking shops would certainly be finer grained than the mill sawdust which was quite granular & the plastic or paper bag approach is probably a superior method.

Lee

 

[Losos]

Ray,
Please say how many bags a day you get through :?:

Does the plastic really burn away with no residue :?:

How often do you clean your stove or do you even need to :?:

Someone also suggested filling old toilet roll tubes but I tried this and it's messy & very time consuming. Kitchen towel tubes are better but still takes a lot of time.

I generate a fair bit of saw dust 'cos we burn logs which have to be cut so I'm keen to try using sawdust if it really works.

Regards

 

[smiffy]

Losos,

I have to say that the fire's appetite is frightening, but it seems to last longer burning sawdust than just wood scraps. You of course know this already. Bear in mind I am talking about a stove that has a door that can be closed.
I usually alternate between burning sawdust and put in some wood or coal every now and then.
With the price of gas nowadays, I think that my fire is one of the best things I have ever bought and when you get your heating for free as 'one of the perks of the job' when working with wood, the cosy feeling from the fire is all the more satisfying.

If the fire was on all day I would probably go through about 15 - 20 bags, with some wood scraps put in every now and then. I would say that the bags are around as big as a bag of sugar for my fire.
I usually have all vents fully open. Even fine MDF dust burns well.

Because the sawdust damps the fire caused by the plastic, there is no sudden large flame as you would get from just putting plastic in the fire. I have never seen any plastic residue on the fire. You do have to be careful putting the bag in though, as you can burn a hole in the bag before it is all the way in and make a mess. The secret is to not put too much in at once.

This is only the second winter with my stove and I have never had it cleaned. In the cold days it is always on. Since it's dual fuel I use coal as well.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Ray.

 

[Losos]

Ray,
Thanks, that's very helpful - We had a very warm Oct. so I've not fired it up yet. Today has been about as miserable as it gets. I was only in the shop for an hour so I didn't light the stove but tommorow will be the first day this winter when it goes on.

My stove is a locally made one, and the door is on the front, (Not on the top as per Hot Spot) I think I might have to do a few 'practice' throws - Maybe an under arm style

Like you I do feel a certain smugness when I think what the gas & oil companies are not getting out of me :wink:

The wood burning stove is the perfect heating for any workshop because of the 'dry' heat - I have less probs with rust & corrosion on my tools & machinery in winter than in Summer

Thanks once again. I might resurect this thread in a few weeks to let people know how it worked out.